Apex court verdict on Bhullar must be respected: BJP

New Delhi: The BJP said Friday the Supreme Court verdict rejecting Khalistani terrorist Devenderpal Singh Bhullar mercy petition against his hanging must be rejected.

Bharatiya Janata Party leader Balbir Punj said: "Whatsoever punishment awarded by the apex court should be implemented. There cannot be any exceptions".

"And those who dared to challenge the authority of the state and those who wage war against the state and conspire to destabilise the country should be ready to face consequences," said Punj.

Bhullar, convicted and sentenced to death in 2003 for carrying out a bomb blast outside the Delhi Youth Congress office in 1993, had sought commutation of his death penalty to life sentence on the ground that there was inordinate delay by the president over his mercy plea.

He had approached the Supreme Court in 2011 but the apex court dismissed his plea.

The 1993 blast at the Youth Congress office in Delhi had left nine people dead. The attack was targeted against then Youth Congress leader M.S. Bitta.

Bhullar had filed a mercy petition on January 14, 2003, which was rejected by the president May 25, 2011.